Multiple push-button switch



y 1949- s. G. ISSERSTEDT 2,

MULTIPLE PUSH-BUTTON SWITCH Filed May 1, 1946 INVENTOR s- G. ISSERSTEDT ATT'YS Patented May 10, 1949 UNITED d'i'A'i'ES ESTENT QFFICE MULTIPLE PUSH-BUTTON SWITCH Siegfried Gordon llsserstedt, lfioronto, Qntario, Canada 2 Claims.

This invention relates to multiple push button switches and more particularly to switches which automatically release a depressed button upon the depression of another button.

Switches of this type are well known but they usually embody a number of cooperating parts including springs, sliders, etc. which produce a somewhat complicated structure and which is relatively costly to manufacture. Moreover, such switches usually have a particular mechanical structure which interlocks to retain the particular push button in its downwardly depressed position engaging separate contacts for establishing the circuit desired. A much simpler type of multiple interlocking switch is posible as will appear according to the present invention.

It is a main object of the present invention to provide a multiple interlocking switch which is particularly simple in design using a minimum parts actually constitute the circuit closing ele ments as each push button is depressed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a switch of this kind which may be manufactured readily from stamped parts and fastened together 1 and which do not require machining.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a switch of this kind in which the individual contact spring of the switch actually make the contact, and perform the locking action, as well as also serving to return the push button to its off position as another push button is depressed, in addition to forming connecting lugs for the wiring.

A further object of the invention is to provide a switch employing at least one resiliently mounted contact and a locking bar common to all the push buttons, said bar being displaceable instantly to release a depressed push button and automatically to break the electrical contact, pre viously established, upon the depression of another push button.

A further object of the invention is to provide a compact switch of this kind which may employ a pair of opposed contacts and locking bars operating to lock and release the push buttons when actuated and. wherein said bars also may serve as a shield between the opposed sets of contacts, and wherein said bars may be extended through the mounting plate also to serve a shield between the connection lugs for the wiring or between variable condsnscrs or other electrical apparatus which may be attached to the mounting plate.

A further object of the invention is to provide a switch of this kind which may be manufactured at extremely low cost compared to the prior art.

With these and other objects in view the invention, in its simplest form, generally comprises a mounting plate a series of spring contacts mounted thereon and a locking and contact bar resiliently mounted on said plate and engageable by any of the contact springs when depressed whereby to lock a contact spring depressed and to release another contact spring previously depressed, while simultaneously effecting an electrical contact through the engagement of a con tact spring with the locking and Contact bar.

' Preferably the switch embodies a pair of opposed locking and contact bars and pairs of opposed contact springs, each pair being depressible by one push button. lhe switch is particularly applicable to a multiple push button switch for number of parts and in which the interlocking radio receivers, such as for station selecting purposes and wherein the contact and locking bars may readily be used as a shielding means, and wherein the mounting plate may be readily used for the mounting of the individual tuning condensers.

The invention will be fully understood by reference to the following detailed specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective View partly in section of a preferred form of switch according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken through the switch in Fig. 1 showing one push button and the contacts in the raised or open position of the switch.

Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 showing the contacts depressed in the closed and locked position of the switch.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view partly in section of a switch of the single type employing one of spring contacts and contact and locking bar.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through a switch and of a nature similar to Fig. 2 but illustrating the adaptability of the switch to radio station selecting equipment; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating the switch applied to a simple radio receiver circuit.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates a switch combination as a whole which includes a base plate It designed to carry a plurality of opposed spring contact fingers I l. The base is preferably longitudinally slotted as at K? and i3 on each side of its center line so that one end of the fingers H may be projected to form the connecting lugs 14. In this connection, the fingers are readily riveted to the base at a point intermediate their ends as indicated at I 5.

Directly opposite the Contact ends N3 of the spring contacts fingers ii a pair of resiliently mounted locking bars l7 and li are mounted. These bars at their lower ends are preferably off set as at i8 to freely engage the base if? to one side of the slots [2 and !3 as the case may be and are preferably formed with a downwardly projecting skirt l9 which passes through the slots i2 and i3 respectively and is employed particularly where shielding between the connection lugs 54 is desired or between apparatus mounted on the lower face of the base plate as will appear hereinafter.

The locking bars ii and mounted in this manner such as b plates 29 w e 1 "ch may be 'iveted as to the bas plate l5 between the opposed locking contact bars El and l and designed to lie in spring pressing engagement with the upper face of the offset 5 8 of each bar. In this connection the bars ll l'i be inwardly slotted as shown in Fig. l. to accommodate the spring plate 2b. Accordingly, therefore, it will be clear that if eith r of the locking bars ll or a i are inwardly presse the bars will yield by means of a rocking action on the base plate as against the pressur of the springs 2G.

The upper extremities of ton B is depressed. Towards their pper extremity they are formed with a downwardly and outwardly sloped deflecting face 22 designed to intersect at the lower end of this face with an upwardly and outwardly sloped releasing face 253 which at its lower extremity is designed to intersect a locking shoulder 24 disposed at right angles to the preferably straight body portions 25, or, in other words, parallel to the mounting base id. The contact ends l8 of the contact fingers ii are disposed in the normal off pos'tion of the switch to partially overlie the defleeting su face of the bars 5": and 27 respectively and in spaced relation thereto, as shown in Fig. 2. The push button for each pair of spring contacts may talze the form of a bifurcate 1 me. ber formed with the spaced apart feet and 2? designed to overlie the contact end iii of these springs and to form a means for depressing said contact fingers upon depression of the push bu ton. In this connection the push buttons preferably have a centrally located Shani: 3 designed to pass through a guide opening in the base plate whereby to guide the path of tie push button as it is depressed.

Upon depression of a push button B, it will be readily apparent that the contact ends it of the fingers ii will immediately engage the deflecting faces 22 of the locking bars ll and i'l and, by reason of the slope of the deflecting surfaces, will cause the upper extremities of the bars to swing inwardly. The contacts will then be caused to pass downwardly to the position shown in Fig. 3 on they have passed the lower extremity of t e deflecting surface and have con depressed to an extent at least corresponding to location of the shoulders 24, the bars in swinging outwardly under their spring pressure will locl: the contact ends i l of the fingers s l below the shoulder 24 in each case. Moreover, assuming that one of the push buttons has been depressed so as to depress its contacts in the position shown in Fig. 3 and it is desired to push another button such as illustrated in Fig. 2, it will be apparent that immediately the contact ends i6, as shown in Fig. 2, engage the deflecting faces 22 of the locking bars ii and li and these bars start to move inwardly, the contact fingers held by the shoulders, as shown in 3, will be released from their locking engageme t with the shoulders and due to spring tension of the contact fingers l6 and s1 pe of the releasing faces '23 of the bars I! W 1e fingers in springing upwardly and enese releasing faces will have the result of l. rcibly swinging the bars I"! and I"! inwardly to permit the contacts to move past the offset portion of these bars as formed between the defleeting faces 22 and the releasing faces 23, thereby to return the contacts automatically to their it or open position.

' iiicity of design and construction of 'tch and its compactness are readily apparent and this is made possible by the fact that no mechanical apparatus is included for the interand releasing function, apart from the ontacts themselves, since the necessary con 'nmediately made as between the fin- 2i and the locking bars ll and ll simultaousiy witl e releasing action performed by Lars and the previously locked contacts. the individual contact springs make the Contact, perform the locking action, function to the previously depressed push button to i iand also form connecting lugs for Moreover, the locking bars I! and common contact, serve as a stop for the downward movement of the push buttons and in one of two sets of contact fingers, as above described, the locking bar above and below the plate functions as a shield between these sets of contacts.

Finall it is perfectly evident, having regard to character of the parts, that the switch can be manufactured from stamped parts, fastened together and no machine is required.

A simple type of single contact sv 'tch is illustrated in w h may be oifset to form the connecting the whole being connected with the looking ll" by the resilient web of metal 32 which imparts to the locking bar the resilient mounting characteristics desired for the operation to be performed. Other means, of course, might be employed for resiliently mounting the locking bar in any construction of switch according to the present invention, the basic choracteristic being a yielding of the locking and conact bar to perform the locking and releasing unction.

The contact fingers 33 are disposed tor. aids the other of the mounting plate I0 anner to the other form of construction bly he ing connecting 3 which t 35 in The fingers ed to carry buttons C w? -bly carry jectrg guide shanks 35 passing through .c base plate iii nd through suitable slots 0'- n the spring fingers 33. Esser 'ially, the: in this type of construction, the switch compri es four component parts, via, a base plate, a spring contact finger (employed in numher), a resiliently mounted locking bar, and a push button (employed in number). The type of switch shown in Figs. 1 to 3 compares accord ingly except that the number of contacts are doubled and a pair of contact bars are employed.

The adaptability of the switch in the case of a radio receiver is illustrated in Fig. 5 wherein it will be apparent that the base plate 49 will readily receive tuning condensers such as the condenser 38, their being one tuning condenser for each contact on one side of the switch and a series of separate volume controls 3-9 on the opposite side of the switch, one for each spring contact, and which are connected by sliders 40 to the connecting lugs M of each spring contact. It is obvious also that in place of the individual volume control a corresponding second set of individual tuning condensers may be mounted on that side of the switch and, therefore, the switch will for each push button established make connections of two tuned circuits as is the prac tice in conventional radio receivers. Thus, the volume of the station brought in by the depression of a particular button B of the switch is automatically controlled, while alternatively, by means of two series of tuning condensers two tuned circuits are established in the conventional manner. Thus, the special application of the switch of the present invention to low cost radio receivers is illustrated to indicate how conveniently both tuning condensers and/or individual volume controls may be mounted on the same mounting plate.

In Fig. 6, the circuit for the switch shown in Fig. 5 is illustrated, thus to provide individual volume controls which are set together with the tuning condensers so that all stations selected are received at approximately the same volume. A manual volume control 4| may be provided in series or in any other manner to permit .the listener to adjust the volume to suit his taste.

The general advantages of the switch construction according to the present invention are fully apparent from the foregoing. It will be obvious that various changes might be made in the switch construction within the spirit of the invention, so that the foregoing disclosure should not be interpreted in a limiting sense other than such limitations as are contained in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A multiple interlocking push button switch comprising a base, a plurality of spring contacts mounted in a row on said base, a means of connecting each of said contacts to an external circuit, a plurality of push buttons in connection with said contacts and designed to depress them, a locking bar resiliently mounted in parallel spaced apart relation to said row of contacts on said base and having a deflecting surface and a locking shoulder, said locking bar being mounted with respect to said contacts so that as one of said contacts is depressed by one of said push buttons, said contact slidably engages said deflecting surface of said locking bar to lock said contact in a depressed position beneath said looking shoulder and to release any other depressed contact, a means of connecting said locking bar to an external circuit, said locking bar functioning as an electrical contact with any of said contacts disposed in a depressed position.

2. A multiple interlocking push button switch comprising a base, a plurality of formed spring contacts mounted in a row on said base, said base having a longitudinal slot therealong and each of said spring contacts having one end projecting through said slot, said projecting end being designed for electrical connection to any external circuit, a plurality of push buttons in connection with said spring contacts, said push buttons having shafts designed to pass through an elongated slot in said spring contacts and through a guiding orifice in said base so that said spring contact can be depressed by depressing said push button, a locking bar resiliently mounted on said base in parallel spaced apart relation to said row of contacts, said locking bar having a deflecting surface and a locking shoulder designed to contact said contacts, and a means of connecting said bar to an external circuit,said locking bar being yieldable as a contact slidably engages said deflecting surface of said bar to lock said contact under said locking shoulder and to release any other contact disposed in depressed position, said locking bar functioning as an electrical contact with any of said contacts disposed in depressed position.

SIEGFRIED GORDON ISSERSTEDT.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Schumacher Oct. 21, 1919 Number 

